Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 31, 2025
06:14
Simulating Imaging of Large Scale Radio Arrays on the Lunar Surface
Published on: July 30, 2020
5.3K
Evolving parsec-scale radio structure in the most distant blazar known
Tao An1, Prashanth Mohan2, Yingkang Zhang2,3
1Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy, 80 Nandan Road, 200030, Shanghai, China. antao@shao.ac.cn.
Nature Communications
|January 11, 2020
Summary
Observations of blazar J0906+6930 reveal a less powerful jet with lower proper motion and Lorentz factor. This suggests a nascent jet interacting with dense gas, potentially bending its path.
Area of Science:
- Astrophysics
- Extragalactic Astronomy
Background:
- Blazars, a quasar subclass, are crucial for studying supermassive black hole growth.
- Their jets, oriented towards us, offer unique insights, especially at high redshifts.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the properties of blazar J0906+6930 at a redshift of 5.47.
- To analyze jet characteristics, including polarization and proper motion, at parsec scales.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations.
- Detecting polarized emission and measuring jet proper motion.
Main Results:
- Detected polarized emission and measured jet proper motion at parsec scales for blazar J0906+6930.
- Observed a less powerful jet compared to typical blazars, with lower proper motion and bulk Lorentz factor.
- Inferred a high accretion rate, suggesting a transition in energy transfer from radiative to mechanical.
Conclusions:
- The findings suggest a nascent jet embedded in and interacting with a dense medium.
- This interaction may lead to jet bending, offering a new perspective on blazar evolution.
- The results point towards a shift in energy and momentum transfer mechanisms within the blazar environment.
Related Concept Videos
01:21Schwarzschild Radius and Event Horizon
2.6K
No object with a finite mass can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum. This fact has an interesting consequence in the domain of extremely high gravitational fields.
The minimum speed required to launch a projectile from the surface of an object to which it is gravitationally bound so that it eventually escapes the object’s gravitational field is called the escape velocity. The escape velocity is independent of the mass of the object. Merging the idea of escape...
The minimum speed required to launch a projectile from the surface of an object to which it is gravitationally bound so that it eventually escapes the object’s gravitational field is called the escape velocity. The escape velocity is independent of the mass of the object. Merging the idea of escape...
2.6K
01:10Detection of Black Holes
2.5K
Although black holes were theoretically postulated in the 1920s, they remained outside the domain of observational astronomy until the 1970s.
Their closest cousins are neutron stars, which are composed almost entirely of neutrons packed against each other, making them extremely dense. A neutron star has the same mass as the Sun but its diameter is only a few kilometers. Therefore, the escape velocity from their surface is close to the speed of light.
Not until the 1960s, when the first neutron...
Their closest cousins are neutron stars, which are composed almost entirely of neutrons packed against each other, making them extremely dense. A neutron star has the same mass as the Sun but its diameter is only a few kilometers. Therefore, the escape velocity from their surface is close to the speed of light.
Not until the 1960s, when the first neutron...
2.5K
01:11Atomic Nuclei: Larmor Precession Frequency
2.6K
The earth's gravitational field produces a 'twisting force' perpendicular to the angular momentum of a spinning mass (such as a spinning top) that causes the mass to 'wobble' around the gravitational field axis in a phenomenon called precession. Similarly, the magnetic moment (μ) of a spinning nucleus precesses due to an external magnetic field directed along the z-axis. The precession of the magnetic moment vector about the magnetic field is called Larmor precession,...
2.6K
01:10Generating Electromagnetic Radiations
6.5K
The German physicist Heinrich Hertz (1857–1894) was the first to generate and detect certain types of electromagnetic waves in the laboratory. Starting in 1887, he performed a series of experiments that confirmed the existence of electromagnetic waves and verified that they travel at the speed of light. Hertz used an alternating-current RLC (resistor-inductor-capacitor) circuit that resonated at a known frequency and connected it to a loop of wire. High voltages induced across the gap in...
6.5K
01:30Electromagnetic Waves
10.8K
James Clerk Maxwell formulated a single theory combining all the electric and magnetic effects scientists knew during that time, calling the phenomena his theory predicted “Electromagnetic waves”. He brought together all the work that had been done by brilliant physicists such as Oersted, Coulomb, Gauss, and Faraday and added his own insights to develop the overarching theory of electromagnetism. Maxwell’s equations, combined with the Lorentz force law, encompass all the laws...
10.8K
03:08Atomic Radii and Effective Nuclear Charge
61.2K
The elements in groups of the periodic table exhibit similar chemical behavior. This similarity occurs because the members of a group have the same number and distribution of electrons in their valence shells.
61.2K